As you know, our house went on the market a couple weeks ago, now. We got 6 offers the first day and ended up with 12 altogether. Disclaimer: The housing market in our area and especially our town is CRAZY right now. Don’t just think it’s our house. I know it’s cuteness helped but there are other factors. Promise.
 |
| listing photos from Hunter Phillips |
Yes, the market is hot, but I did work to prep our house for it’s best debut. Today, I thought I’d talk to you about staging a home to sell. It’s much different than decorating a house to live in and much different from what I’m used to showing you here on the blog and over on Instagram.
Before I started prepping our house to sell, I did a little research over here on pinterest, just to make sure I was on the right track. Here are some things I think are most important.
It’s about MASS APPEAL
I’m well aware that there are things in our house that might not appeal to everyone. Instead of giving buyers the opportunity to focus on those things, I replaced them with more generic things. For example, the blanket wall hanging in the dining room. I love it but understand it’s not everyone’s style.
I took it down and replaced it with a more traditional (still not traditional) artwork.
I also switched the more colorful rug out for the floral rug. It’s a little more sophisticated for the space. I’ll be selling the floral one before we move so it’s also more accessible.
Here are the listing photos for this space:
Another thing.. LESS IS MORE. Clear off those walls!
I took a lot of things down off the walls. When you’re selling a home, people are literally looking at the home. If the walls are covered with stuff, they can’t see it. Literally.
The girls room had this sweet little gallery wall.
I took most of it down, kept a few things but mostly left the walls bare. Again, you don’t want those to be more
noticeable than the house. AND you don’t want someone thinking about
the amount of holes they’ll have to patch. Wouldn’t scare me away but might make some buyers nervous.
You may notice, too, that I took down the dark curtains and replaced them with something lighter and brighter. Note: I removed the “keep owt” sign before it hit the market.
Here are the listing pics of their room:
Next up:
Staging to sell is NOT ABOUT LAYERS
Another thing I took out.. I removed layers from rooms. When I’m styling our house for living there, layers are my favorite. More lush, more to look at, more personal. When you’re staging a house to sell, you want buyers to notice your house, not your stuff.
In our bedroom I took away the framed art that was leaning against the wall and kept just the hanging frame for a more streamlined look.
The original frame was our engagement picture. I replaced it with this landscape for a more generic look.
Here are the listing pictures of our more simplified room.
Over in my desk space, that once looked like this…filled up, closed in and cozy.
I rearranged the room in the fall. The sofa got moved out to let in more light. For selling, light and bright is key. As for the desk, I removed most of the decor so that the desk (it’s staying) was the focal point.
Here is the listing photo from the front room:
Another important thing is to CLEAR OUT AS MUCH AS YOU CAN
If every drawer and closet are filled to the brim, buyers might look in there and think there wouldn’t be enough space for their stuff either.
When I did the January clean out I tried to clear as many drawers as I could. It’s weird to think about but when people look through our built ins and bathroom drawers I want them to see empty ones. ‘If 4 people can live here and have empty drawers, there’s plenty of room for us!’
Yall, I even got up in the attic and pushed boxes back toward the wall and over to one side. If someone went up there, I want them to see how much room there is. Sorry to disappoint, I did not take pictures of our attic.
Along with clearing things out, goes: EMPTY COUNTER TOPS
You see in the picture above, I cleared off as many horizontal surfaces as possible. I cleared off the countertop, cleared out the bookshelf, took out the stool and even picked up the floor mat. We have rugs everywhere in our house but the more floor you can see, the bigger it all looks.
Those wide angle lenses help too…….
I took away lots of the day to day stuff from our kitchen counters. Here’s the day to day…..(blog day to day not actual normal-house day to day.)
Notice the cutting boards, candles and soaps? and here are the list pictures of the kitchen:
I kept some of it out but got rid of anything that wasn’t contained or pretty…Sponges, you can hide for a few days. mmmm’kay bye.
In the laundry room, it’s obvious that a laundry basket would usually be found but it doesn’t mean you have to have one on display for staging.
 |
| laundry room reveal here |
Here is the listing picture:
Just like in a bathroom, of course there are drying towels.
Nobody wants to see that though! Remove that stuff and let a buyer see your house!
Our last big thing to clear out were our bookshelves.
The playroom got a pairing down. This picture was how I styled it last year for the one room challenge.
I sold the art table (again, more floor showing tells the buyer more space) and cleared out the bookcases a bit.
Here is the listing photo.
I think that might be it. I tried to keep a lot of the personality in our house because that’s part of its charm but I also wanted it to be as pared down as possible. I know a minimalist would disagree with my version of minimalism... : )
It got the job done though! I’m thankful for this sweet house and all the many memories we made in it.
Wanna know where the laundry basket ended up? In the van. Along with foot stools and bags of snacks, dirty clothes hampers and unsightly trashcans. We left for the weekend. I highly suggest that too.
Let me know if there’s anything I left out or any questions you may have. It was fun! If you need staging help and you’re in the area, let me know. Also, if you need a realtor in the area, Bryce Olson is great!
One more thing. Pin the image below to save or share:
Thanks for reading, friends!
